Alfie Whiteman: Why I left Spurs and soccer for a brand new profession as a photographer and director

Alfie Whiteman was by no means your typical footballer.

As Tottenham Hotspur’s third-, fourth- or latterly fifth-choice goalkeeper, the prospects of creating an influence for his boyhood membership on the pitch have been slim. So, in his free time, he channelled his power into totally different passions: taking performing lessons, growing his abilities as a photographer and internet hosting a month-to-month radio present the place the listed genres are folks, indie rock, leftfield pop and dream pop.

And whereas his team-mates whisked into the coaching floor in supercars, he travelled on public transport. 

After leaving Spurs as a free agent this summer time, he anticipated to proceed his profession, maybe decrease down the English soccer pyramid or overseas, the place he would have the prospect to show himself as a No 1.

However, regardless of receiving concrete curiosity from golf equipment as excessive because the English Championship, Whiteman determined to quietly retire from the sport on his personal phrases this summer time at simply 26, simply months after profitable the Europa League.

Whiteman and Richarlison have fun Tottenham’s Europa League win in Bilbao (Alex Pantling/Getty Images)

Whiteman is starting a brand new profession as a budding photographer and movie director signed to Somesuch, a worldwide manufacturing firm with workplaces in London and Los Angeles. It is the studio behind Harris Dickinson’s directorial characteristic movie debut ‘Urchin’ and Aneil Karia’s ‘The Long Goodbye’, winner of the Oscar for Best Live Action Short on the 2022 Academy Awards.      

While it was not a straightforward determination, it has been years within the making.

“I signed for Spurs at 10 years old,” Whiteman tells The Athletic over a jug of lemonade at a cocktail bar in east London. “Then I left school at 16 and went straight into this full-time life of football. When I was around 17 or 18, living in digs, I just had this feeling inside of, ‘Is this it?’ Getting on the mini bus, going to training, doing the Sports Science BTEC (he also did an A Level in Economics) and going home to play video games. I realised, ‘Oh, I’m not happy here’ from quite a young age.

“The stereotype of a footballer is generally quite true. It’s the golf, washbag culture. I was that young footballer. I wanted the Gucci washbag and I drove the Mercedes. You all just become a reflection of each other. You’re a product of your environment. It’s the way football is in this country; it’s so shut off from anything else. You go to training and then you go home, that’s it.

“I guess I always felt a little bit different. My team-mates — who I got on well with — called me a hippie. That was their definition. But then, when I was 18, I met my ex-girlfriend, who was a model. She was a bit older than me. Her best friend was a director. It just started opening my eyes to what life has to offer.

“So as I was getting a bit older around 18 or 19, I started meeting new people and realising a bit more about myself, and understanding the football bubble, because it’s so insular.”

A 16-year-old Whiteman throughout a match for Tottenham Under-21s in 2015 (Julian Finney/Getty Images)

Stuck behind internationals Hugo Lloris, Michel Vorm and Joe Hart within the goalkeeping pecking order, Whiteman continued coaching exhausting with the hope of someday representing Spurs as an expert or growing elsewhere on mortgage. Meanwhile, he was mixing with new crowds in his free time and making associates throughout the artistic business. On his days off, producers, administrators and photographers invited him to help them as a runner on set. While he anticipated it could occur nicely into his 30s, Whiteman was consciously setting himself up for a life after soccer.

“Football is a short career regardless, even if you do really well, and I knew that I didn’t want to stay in it,” says Whiteman. “It was about trying to gain experience and be proactive in learning about these things I was also interested in, but mainly because I was enjoying it, and was surrounded by the kinds of people that were doing what I enjoyed as a job. They were making things. It was really inspiring.”

Whiteman made one look for Tottenham as a second-half substitute in a Europa League match underneath Jose Mourinho earlier than transferring on mortgage to Degerfors in Sweden in 2021. There, he had the chance to play often and construct kind on the pitch, making 34 appearances throughout an 18-month interval in Sweden’s high flight. Living in a small cabin within the woods, Whiteman spent massive quantities of his time alone, exploring his emotions by artwork. 

“I learned a lot,” he says. “I was in a new environment, in nature. I’ve got this exhibition coming up in spring about a body of work I did while I was there, which is all these self-portraits and weird things. I never planned it to be, but it served as this period of introspection. I look at the work now, and these feelings of being a bit lost or torn are in it. That was in 2022, so it’s always been there.”

Joe Hart and Whiteman, because the latter makes his Spurs debut towards Ludogorets in November 2020 (Ian Kingston/Getty Images)

He returned to Spurs decided to make an influence and signed a two-year extension in 2023. Under new coach Ange Postecoglou, Whiteman performed and skilled nicely in pre-season, however his progress was halted after sustaining an ankle damage in Singapore, which might preserve him out for a lot of the season. His ‘Sweet Tooth’ present on NTS, a radio channel based in east London in 2011 specializing in eclectic music from all over the world, served as a artistic outlet by the toil of recuperation. Reflecting on the damage now, Whiteman sees it as a sliding doorways second.

“It was a kind of freak injury, causing me to miss most of the season, where a new manager comes in,” says Whiteman. “So I was immediately in this bad situation. But during that rehab, I worked so hard every day to try to get back. I eventually did, but even then, it was just to be sat in the stands. It was so hard applying myself and really trying and then just not getting the games.

“That’s where you show the work you’re doing. Otherwise, the training and stuff, it’s all repetitive and in the shadows. It’s like f***ing Groundhog Day. Tottenham have an incredible training ground with incredible facilities, and I was working with the best players. But it wasn’t fulfilling. I want to be in a high-pressure game, or feel progress. When you’re not playing, it’s very difficult to do. It’s even worse, it’s more like you’re regressing.”

Whiteman, who represented England on the under-17 World Cup in 2015, made it clear to the Tottenham hierarchy after recovering from his damage in summer time 2024 that he want to depart the membership on mortgage to discover first-team alternatives. But with Spurs brief on club-trained gamers for his or her upcoming Europa League marketing campaign (golf equipment are required to contain 4 gamers developed in their very own academy for UEFA competitors), the membership wouldn’t sanction a transfer away.

He describes the dearth of management as “frustrating”. The season ended with Spurs profitable the Europa League, with Whiteman accumulating a winners’ medal and circling by Tottenham, the neighbourhood by which he grew up, on a bus within the parade.

An damage suffered on Tottenham’s 2023 summer time tour in Singapore was a large blow to Whiteman (MB Media/Getty Images)

“My house is two minutes from the stadium,” says Whiteman. “I used to walk to the home games. So the bus goes past my road, my sister, my best friend who lives at the house with me, they’re there waving from my street. I spotted a girl who goes to the youth centre that I was volunteering at; I did her headshots because she wants to be an actor. I was like, ‘Hey!’ And she was there in disbelief like, ‘What are you doing on the bus?’ It was funny.”

Whiteman went on trial at two golf equipment within the English Football League in the summertime. The first, a League One facet, couldn’t supply a contract on account of monetary points. He then went on trial with a Championship membership, who supplied him an preliminary six-month contract as a No 2. However, by the point the contract supply got here, he had determined skilled soccer was now not for him.

“There was a weekend when I went home, and I started contemplating all my options,” says Whiteman. “I had other things I’ve been building on the side and it was more exciting to me. To put it plainly, I saw happiness in these other avenues.

“It got to this point where I’d rather end this on my terms than go to a club that I just didn’t want to go to. When I was younger, I always said I didn’t want to play in the lower leagues; it was always about the highest level. Otherwise, I’d rather do something else. So I just took this step into the unknown, and I was like, ‘Oh, holy s***. I’m actually doing it.’ Anything can happen. I’m in complete control of my life, and it’s really exciting and really scary.”

Within days of calling his agent to tell him of his determination, Whiteman was on set with style photographer Harley Weir and British rapper Central Cee for a Nike shoot. He later travelled to Norway and Ukraine to assist his good friend Aria Shahrokhshahi movie a characteristic documentary. In between, he was getting in touch with individuals within the business and introducing himself over espresso.

Alfie Whiteman on set (Elliot Jones)

“I ended up going to assist my friend for this photography job for Vibram (a footwear company known for their ‘five finger’ shoes) at the World Toe Wrestling Championships,” says Whiteman. “I was like, ‘Yeah, I’ll come hold the lights!’ And the day before that shoot, they asked for a video, too, so I was like, ‘I’ll do it. I’ll do it!’

“There was no budget or brief, nothing. I turned up with him on the day and ran around with my camera, and then took it to an editor, sat with him, and made this thing and it got posted.”

The brief movie was a essential success, incomes a five-star evaluate from David Reviews, a outstanding outlet throughout the short-form content material house. Within weeks, he was signed to Somesuch as an expert movie and industrial director.

“Somesuch have their film and commercials departments and I do photography,” says Whiteman. “I’ve got project ideas for photo stuff and short film ideas. The plan is to do some short films, and then hopefully one day a feature-length. But there are no real strict steps. You can decide. I just want to be on set and work with some of the most talented cinematographers, DoPs (directors of photography), producers and meet new people. There’s just so much to learn.”

While he has not watched any soccer since his retirement, he’s not turning his again on the sport fully. He has concepts for movies primarily based on subsequent summer time’s World Cup in North America, and is happy to select up the gloves once more quickly — with none of the politics of the business connected.

“I’m really excited to go and play on a Wednesday night with my mates,” he says. “I’ve had a load of friends inquiring! I just enjoy playing football with my friends. It’s pure.”